My Baby Cries Whenever I Put Him To Bed

If you have seen the scene in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indy tries to retrieve a sacred object from a booby-trapped pedestal without triggering a temple collapse, you will have a good idea what placing a reluctant sleeper to bed feels like.

The easiest way to make baby not get upset by bedtime is to not make it a surprise. If there isn’t a consistent routine being followed every night, then bedtime is always unexpected for baby and therefore scary.  Try using The 4 B’s: Bath, Bottle, Book, & Bed. Start with a bath because its uniqueness from anything else that happens during baby’s day makes it a clear start to bedtime. Next, give baby their final feed while reading to them. Don’t try to separate these two activities. Lastly, say goodnight and put baby to bed. If you do this exactly the same way for a week or two, baby will come to identify the steps leading up to bedtime and will find comfort in the predictability.

Lastly, if you are putting baby to bed in an optimal sleeping environment (dark space, white noise, room temperature around 68-70 degrees), after following the above routine and baby is still fussing, you need to allow some self-soothing time. Set a timer (2-5 minutes for babies under 3 months and 10-15 for babies over 3 months) and allow them to practice getting themselves to sleep. If they are still fussing when the timer goes off, go and give them a few soothing words, a rub on the back or belly and then leave the room and start the timer over again. Do this as many times as needed until baby falls asleep. After 1-2 weeks of the 4 B’s and timed self-soothing blocks, you should see bedtime becoming much easier.

By Hannah Mira, Founder of Bonsoir Bebe Sleep Consulting